Bend My Life *Legend of Korra*

(1) I didn't think things could get much worse

Chapter one-

"Mother, I'm home!" I shouted as I entered through the front door and threw my bag on the nearby couch. I went to the kitchen and poured a glass of water. I heard something upstairs, "Mom?" 

Someone came down the stairs and I slowly looked around the corner. It was the head firebender of my town, Isamu. "Hikari," he said softly. 

"Hey, do you know where my mother is?" I asked him as went back to the kitchen and poured a glass of water for him. Isamu is sometimes coming over to my house, since him and my mother are good friends. She sort of mentors him. 

I handed him the glass, he took a sip and then replied, "I'm so sorry." 

I could feel the pace of my heart speed up. I could practically feel the blood flowing through my veins. I knew the look on his face. It was a look of sorrow, of pity. It was the same look that my mother gave me the day my father left us. "What happened?" I asked cautiously. 

"Heart attack, at least that's what it looks like right now. Someone will check to see for sure." 

I took a deep breath. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, I bit my cheek to try to keep my voice from cracking. "Where is she?" 

"They already took her away." 

My head shot up, "What do you mean?" 

"She's at the funeral home already, after they see what killed her, she'll be cremated." He explained. 

I sighed and knew that there isn't any other way. We couldn't afford to get her properly buried, we couldn't even afford a funeral. "Thank you," I said and ran out the door. I didn't know where I was going, I just needed to get some fresh air and clear my mind. 

I ran down to the nearby stream, where some people would use to get drinking water, but only in the morning. There was nobody there now. I sat down on a dark rock and stared at the babbling water. I took pebbles and began to throw them into the water as tears started to flow from my eyes. I was angry, and shocked. I didn't think that anything else could get taken away from me. I thought that since my father left my mother and me, then nothing bad would ever happen again. I didn't think things could get any worse. 

The next day, I was able to see my mother one last time before she would be cremated. She had long brown hair, and dark blue eyes. Her skin was pale, since she lived in the northern water tribe until she got married. She never liked the hot weather, so she'd stay inside all the time. I touched the side of her face, she was cold and hard. I could feel the powdered makeup that they put on just for me, just so that I didn't have to see her slowly decaying face. 

I looked at the man who had examined her. "It was a heart attack, I'm very sorry sweetheart." Everyone seemed to call me sweet names, they always thought I was so innocent and fragile since I grew up in such hard conditions. Everyone was always overly kind to me. I gulped, and it felt like I just swallowed a block of ice. He handed me a necklace and a few bracelets. "She was wearing these. I'll give you her clothes later too." I looked at the necklace, it was a bright orange dog tag with the fire emblem cut out in the center. I didn't even know she still had this necklace, if it were me, I would've thrown it in the river and let it wash away. 

"Was she really wearing this?" I asked, holding up the necklace as I slipped on the bracelets. One of the bracelets were dark blue, and the other was light blue. She said that her mother had given them to her and they've been in the family for a few generations now. 

"Not exactly, it was clenched in her fist." I nodded and left the room. I went back to my house and up to my room where I stared at the necklace, trying to make sense as to why my mother would wear it. Why would she even keep it? 

I suddenly heard a crash downstairs. I cautiously ran down the steps, trying to make as little noise as possible. "Who's there?" 

A rock came flying past my face, nearly hitting me. I looked over to the source to see there was a Rock Major in my kitchen. They wore brown and green uniforms with a brown cap that covered their face just enough so that it was hard to see who was the attacker. They were a group of punk teenagers in the nearby towns. They were common looters and thieves. 

A few more rocks flew past me, but I managed to dodge them as I was getting closer to the kid. He seemed to be alone. I did the only thing I knew how to do, and tackled him. We exchanged punches as I was on top of him and he gave me a bloody nose. As soon as he saw the blood trickle down my nose, he pushed me off and ran out the door.  It was as if he had punched the sense into me, at that moment, I knew what I had to do. 

The next day I went down to the secondhand shop with all of my mother's clothes, old jewelry and other valuables. "Are you sure you would like to sell these? These are probably the last thing with your mother's scent on them. I wish I still had some of my mother's old clothes." The older woman asked. 

I avoided eye contact with her and I ignored her question, "How many yuons can I get?" 

"I know you've been though so much, how about 200?" 

"Thank you," I said as she put the bills into my palm. I stuffed them into my pocket and went back to my house. I filled my bag with clothes, and things that I would need to survive. I wasn't sure what would happen to my home, if Isamu would take care of it or it would just wither away and be home to local rodents. I shook off the thought and slugged my bag over my shoulder. 

I walked to the train station in the next town over. "Where to?" A woman asked as I put down ten yuons. 

"Republic City." I stated firmly. 

A/N I hope this wasn't too boring or anything. Thank you guys so much for all the comments :) Keep it up! It really motivates me to write more.